Amino resin and a method for its production

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a resin for the production of cellulose based products, such as particle boards. The resin is a condensation product of formaldehyde, urea and phenol and optionally melamine with a molar ratio of 1.4-0.8 moles of urea, 0.006-0.04 moles of phenol and 0-0.04 moles of melamine per mole formaldehyde. The invention also relates to a method of producing such a resin. According to the method a separately prepared cross-linking agent containing a co-condensate of phenol, formaldehyde and urea or containing a co-condensate of phenol and formaldehyde together with urea, is added to a pre-condensate of formaldehyde, urea and optionally melamine, whereafter the mixture is condensed. As an alternative the cross-linking agent can be added to a finished condensate of formaldehyde, urea and optionally melamine. 
     The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing glued cellulose based products.

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 147,298, filedJan. 22, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,609.

The present invention relates to a resin for the production of anadhesive for cellulose based products and to a method for production ofthe resin. The invention also relates to a process for the production ofglued wood products.

At the production of wood products, for example particle board, woodfibre board, plywood etc., binders based on amino resins are usuallyused and, among these, mainly urea-formaldehyde resins. It is well knownthat the release of formaldehyde, originating from the amino resinadhesives, from glued wood products causes serious problems. Authoritiesin different countries have made the limits for the level offormaldehyde in living environments severer. Since a great amount ofstructural elements consist of glued construction materials theserestrictions makes the production of adhesives with lower formaldehydeemission necessary. The producers of adhesives have made great effortsto reduce the formaldehyde emission. Several patents and patentapplications disclose different production processes for amino resins ofvarying compositions, which processes are said to give resins which givea low release of formaldehyde at gluing and from the finished products.The EP patent application 190068, for example, relates to a process forthe production of an amino resin based adhesive for wood products withlow release of formaldehyde. The process relates to condensation of thecomponents formaldehyde, urea, melamine and phenol in several stages, ina fixed sequence.

For conventional urea-formaldehyde resins it is necessary that the molarratio urea:formaldehyde is kept higher than about 1:1.2 in order toachieve a satisfactory strength of the finished wood products. It isknown that a lowered molar ratio between formaldehyde and urea (F/U)gives a decreased formaldehyde emission from board materials glued withpure UF-resins. However, it is also known that this leads to otherdisadvantages of the finished board material, for example an increasedswelling, impaired strength properties and, in certain cases, anincreased brittleness. Manufacturers of particle board have noted thatthese adhesives are more susceptible to variations in the productionconditions, e.g. increased moisture content of the chips, that longerpress times are required, that there is risk of drying out of gluedchips and also that an increased glue addition often is required.

An important factor resulting in these disadvantages at low molar ratiosis a decreased degree of cross-linking. At lower molar ratios resins do,to a certain extent, begin to become more and more linear in theirstructure, compare novolacs of phenol resins.

It is known to use melamine to cross-link such resins. By increasing thedegree of cross-linking of the resin, the swelling of boards glued withsuch resins will decrease and the strength will increase.

Several resins are made with an addition of phenol to theurea-formaldehyde resin to improve the properties. The additions aregenerally large and are usually made together with a large part ofmelamine. These resins consist mainly of a mixture of urea-formaldehyderesin and phenol-formaldehyde resin, although the phenol is added duringthe reaction process. This is due to the fact that urea and phenol willonly react with substantial yields if certain conditions are fulfilled.A co-condensation of phenol, formaldehyde and urea is only obtained ifmethylol phenol is reacted with an excess of urea at an acid pH. If amixture of urea and phenol is reacted with formaldehyde, no substantialyield of a co-condensate is obtained either at an acid or alkaline pH.Nor is there a co-condensation when methylol urea is reacted with anexcess of phenol at different pH values. At an alkaline pH the methylolgroup is dissociated from the methylol urea. The obtained formaldehydeis added to the phenol which then condensates with itself. At an acid pHthe self-condensation of the urea is the dominating reaction. Thereaction between urea and methylol phenol has been confirmed by ¹³C-NMR.

It has now been found that this so-called phenol/urea co-condensate withits free amide- and methylol groups more simply, and in a better way,makes it possible to react a phenol, in derivatized form, into apre-condensate consisting mainly of formaldehyde and urea and optionallya smaller amount of melamine.

The present invention thus relates to a resin with a low molar ratiobetween formaldehyde and urea which gives a low formaldehyde emission atthe production of the glued wood products and from finished suchproducts.

The resin and the process for its production as well as the process forthe production of the glued wood products are evident from the patentclaims.

The resin consists of a condensation product of formaldehyde, urea andphenol. It is prepared from a pre-condensate of formaldehyde and urea. Across-linking agent is added to the pre-condensate and the cross-linkingagent contains a co-condensate of phenol and urea or methylol phenol andurea. By addition of this reagent an increased degree of cross-linkingis obtained despite a low molar ratio (F/U). The strength properties ofthe glued wood products are increased in comparison with a resin havingthe same molar ratio (F/U) but without cross-linking reagent. Alsoother, above mentioned, disadvantages are minimized/eliminated. Tofurther reduce the swelling of finished board materials smaller amountsof melamine can be present in the resin, which increases thecross-linking of this. When melamine is present it is included in thepre-condensate.

The addition of the phenol/urea cross-linking agent is made in theprocess step wherein the resin shall be condensed, i.e. at an acid pH.The mentioned cross-linking agent can thus also be co-reacted. Theprocess can be described by the following diagram: ##STR1##

Even when the cross-linking agent is added in the form of methylolphenol and corresponding amount of urea as in the phenol/ureaco-condensate above, the addition is made in the process step whereinthe resin shall be condensed, i.e. at an acid pH. The reaction betweenmethylol phenol and urea to a cross-linking reagent occurs at the sametime during the condensation process for the urea-formaldehyde resin.The urea reacts preferentially with the methylol phenol. This processcan be described by the following diagram: ##STR2##

Resin produced in the above described manner and with this cross-linkingreagent obtains improved properties. The gel time and the gellingprocess become more distinct (rapid hardening). Boards produced withthis resin will get a lower swelling and increased strength comparedwith a resin without cross-linking agent. The formaldehyde emission isas low as for corresponding resins of low molar ratios, i.e. it fulfillsthe German E1 requirement ≦10 mg CH₂ O/100 g particle board. Thiscross-linking agent, the phenol/urea co-condensate also allows themelamine content to be kept low.

According to a further embodiment of the invention a cross-linking agentin the form of a phenol/urea co-condensate or a methylol phenol is addedafter the evaporation of the condensed urea (melamine) formaldehydereaction mixture, i.e. to the finished urea (melamine) formaldehydecondensate. In this method the additions of urea are carried out in thesame way as above, i.e. to the condensation step and after that. Ataddition to this finished condensate, the acid conditions which thecross-linking agent needs to react, are obtained by addition of the acidhardener to the resin. At the production of particle boards, the acidparticles also contribute to the acid environment. When hardening theresin in the board, the methylol phenol is able to react with free ureapresent in the resin and is able to be reacted into the resin. Theprocess can be described by the following diagram: ##STR3## This processhas certain industrial and technical advantages compared with the twoother processes. It has surprisingly been found that in spite of thismethod allowing for a very short time of reaction of the cross-linkingagent and in spite of that this reaction is not carried out with apre-condensate of urea and formaldehyde, but with a more condensed ureaformaldehyde condensate, very good properties of the boards manufacturedwith this resin are obtained. The boards will get as good strengthproperties and as low emission of formaldehyde as boards manufacturedwith resins produced according to the first described processes.However, somewhat inferior swelling properties are obtained.

The invention also relates to the use of methylol phenol or phenol/ureaco-condensate, prepared according to the above, as cross-linking agent,at an acid pH, for urea-formaldehyde condensates, which optionallycontain melamine.

The resin produced according to the above methods can be mixed with aconventional melamine resin for production of an adhesive formanufacturing of moisture resistant wood products for exterior use. Asuitable conventional melamine resin has a molar ratioformaldehyde:melamine of 1.7-2.4, preferably 1.8-2.1. 30-70 per cent byweight of the melamine resin are mixed with 70-30 per cent by weight ofthe urea phenol resin according to the invention. If the process withaddition of the cross-linking agent to the finished urea (melamine)formaldehyde condensate is used when producing the resin, thecross-linking agent can be added to the melamine resin in stead of thefinished condensate.

At the production of resin according to the present invention apre-condensate of urea and formaldehyde, and optionally a minor amountof melamine, is first prepared by a methylolisation step.Methylolisation step is intended to mean addition of formaldehyde tourea, melamine and phenol, respectively, for formation of methylolmonomers. The molar ratio urea/formaldehyde is 0.15 to 1 mole ofurea/mole formaldehyde, suitably 0.25 to 0.75 and preferably 0.3 to 0.4.The mole ratio melamine/formaldehyde is 0 to 0.04, suitably 0.006 to0.027 moles of melamine/mole formaldehyde. The reaction is carried outat a temperature of from 75 to 90° C. and at a pH of from 8.0 to 8.6,preferably from 8.2 to 8.4.

The cross-linking agent in the form of a phenol/urea co-condensate isproduced by methylolisation of phenol at a pH of from 8.5 to 9.0,preferably form 8.7 to 8.9 and at a temperature of from 50 to 70° C.Urea is then added and the temperature raised to 70 to 90° C. and thereaction is allowed to take place at a pH of from 4 to 6, preferablyfrom 4.7 to 4.9. The molar ratio phenol/formaldehyde is from 3.3 to 0.1,preferably from 0.3 to 0.7 moles of phenol/mole formaldehyde and themolar ratio urea/phenol is 1 to 10, preferably 3.5 to 6.5 moles ofurea/mole phenol.

This cross-linking agent is added to the pre-condensate and the pH isadjusted to 4 to 7, suitably to 4.5 to 5.5 and preferably to 4.8 to 5.0and the condensation takes place at 75 to 85° C. to a suitableviscosity. The viscosity varies depending on the concentration of theformaldehyde and the viscosity which is desired by the user of theresin. The viscosity is usually within the range of from 200 to 1500mPa.s at 20° C. A suitable viscosity at formaldehyde of 50% can be from200 to 250 mPa.s. The reaction is stopped by raising the pH to 7.5 to8.0. Further urea is then added for post-methylolisation in a knownmanner. The molar ratio in the final resin will be 1.4 to 0.8 moles ofurea/ mole formaldehyde, suitably 1.05 to 0.9 and preferably 0.97 to0.93, 0 to 0.04 moles of melamine/mole formaldehyde, suitably 0.006 to0.027, 0.006 to 0.04 moles of phenol/mole formaldehyde, preferably 0.01to 0.03.

Alternatively the following are added to the precondensate, across-linking agent in the form of methylol phenol (prepared with amolar ratio of 3.3 to 0.1, preferably 0.3 to 0.7, moles of phenol/moleformaldehyde) and, separately, 1 to 10, preferably 3.5 to 6.5 moles ofurea (per mole of phenol). The reaction is carried out as above and theobtained resin has the same molar ratio as above.

At the production according to the third method a similar pre-condensateas in the two other methods is prepared. To this pre-condensate 1-10moles of urea (calculated per mole of phenol) are added, preferably3.5-6.5 moles. The reaction is then carried out in the same way asearlier. After evaporation of the condensate a cross-linking agent inthe form of methylol phenol (prepared with the same mole ratio as above)is added to the condensate. When phenol/urea co-condensate (prepared inthe same way as above and thus containing 1-10 moles of urea) is used ascross-linking agent a part of the urea which is added forpost-methylolisation is redistributed. A part of that urea is added tothe pre-condensate, whereafter the condensing is carried out in the sameway as earlier. The resin mixtures prepared in this way will get thesame final molar ratio as the earlier prepared resins.

At the production of particle board with the present resins conventionalproduction processes are used. The originally very moist chips are driedto such a dry content that the total moisture content after the additionof the adhesive does not exceed the critical limit for steam blister. Todecrease the susceptibility to moisture a hydrophobing agent is addedsuch as a mineral wax or a natural or synthetic paraffin wax. If desiredknown formaldehyde binding agent, such as urea, can be added togetherwith the hydrophobing agent. When the dry chips have been glued they arepressed at press temperature of about 185 to 220° C. The amount of addedadhesive is normally between 7 and 12 per cent dry resin based on theweight of dry chips. A conventional hardener is used, such as ammoniumchloride, ammonium sulphate, suitable inorganic and organic acids. Thepress times are in the range of from 8 to 12 s/mm particle board. Theinvention is illustrated in the following examples.

EXAMPLE 1. Resin for boards for indoor use

Methylolisation step:

A reaction mixture of 4386 g of 50% formalin is reacted with 1462 g ofurea and 113 g of melamine. At the addition the temperature is about 50°C. The temperature of the reaction mixture is raised to 80° C., the pHis adjusted to 8.2-8.4.

The reaction is carried out for 20 minutes. The molar ratio is thenlowered by adding 390 g of urea. The reaction is then allowed to go onfor another 15 minutes.

Condensation:

To the above mentioned reaction mixture an earlier prepared phenol/ureaco-condensate is added (after 35 minutes) and the pH is adjusted to4.8-5.0.

The reaction mixture is allowed to condense at 78° C. until a viscosityof 230-250 mPas (25° C.) is obtained. The reaction is stopped withsodium hydroxide (pH=7.5-8.0) and 1836 g of additional urea are added.The resin is evaporated and cooled to room temperature.

The mentioned phenol/urea co-condensate is manufactured according to thefollowing method: 120 g of 50% of formalin, 94 g of phenol and 100 g ofwater are added to a flask. The pH is adjusted to 8.7-8.9 and thetemperature is kept at 60° C. for 60 minutes. 300 g of urea and 150 g ofwater are then added to the methylol phenol. The temperature is raisedto 80° C. and the reaction time is 60 minutes at pH 4.7-4.9.

EXAMPLE 2. Resin for boards for indoor use

Methylolisation step:

The methylolisation step is carried out in the same way as in example 1.

Condensation:

An acidified methylol phenol (f/p=2.0), 300 g of urea and 150 g of waterare then added to the reaction mixture. The pH is lowered to 4.8-5.0.

The reaction mixture is condensed at about 80° C. to 230-250 mPas (25°C.), the reaction is then stopped with sodium hydroxide (pH=7.5-8.0) and2148 g of additional urea are added. The resin is evaporated to 65% andis finally cooled to room temperature.

Resin data:

    ______________________________________                                        Resin data:                                                                   ______________________________________                                        Viscosity 25° C. mPas                                                                           273                                                  pH                       8.7                                                  Gel time 100° C. (2% NH.sub.4 Cl, atro Cl)                                                      78                                                   (atro = absolutely dry NH.sub.4 Cl/absolutely                                 dry resin)                                                                    Density                  1.28                                                 Dry content, %           65                                                   Dilutability, 25° C. water                                                                      1 + 3.0                                              ______________________________________                                    

These resins have then been used for manufacturing particle boards. Thefollowing conditions of manufacturing have been used:

    ______________________________________                                        Press-temperature   185° C.                                            Press-time          3.3-3.0-2.7-2.4 min                                       Thickness of board  16 mm                                                     Size                330 × 500 mm                                        Type                3 layer                                                   Dosage of glue      11/8% surface/core-                                                           layer                                                     Dosage of hardener NH.sub.4 Cl                                                                    0.7/3.0 atro resin                                        Dosage of wax       0.5/0.5%                                                  ______________________________________                                    

    __________________________________________________________________________               Den-       Swelling/water abs                                             Press-                                                                            sity                                                                              MOR IB 2 h     24 h                                            Resin  time                                                                              kg/m.sup.3                                                                        MPa MPa                                                                              S %*                                                                              A %*                                                                              S %*                                                                              %*                                          __________________________________________________________________________    Ex 1   3,3 727 19,7                                                                              0,59                                                                             3,0 10,9                                                                              15,5                                                                              36,6                                         "     3,0 723 17,8                                                                              0,59                                                                             2,7  9,8                                                                              13,8                                                                              32,8                                         "     2,7 706 16,7                                                                              0,52                                                                             2,7 10,3                                                                              14,0                                                                              33,7                                         "     2,4 700 16,4                                                                              0,51                                                                             2,3 10,2                                                                              13,4                                                                              33,5                                        Ex 2   3,3 695 16,5                                                                              0,58                                                                             2,6 10,5                                                                              14,3                                                                              34,1                                         "     3,0 717 19,4                                                                              0,56                                                                             2,4 10,2                                                                              13,0                                                                              33,7                                         "     2,7 676 14,7                                                                              0,58                                                                             2,4 10,4                                                                              13,0                                                                              34,1                                         "     2,4 694 15,6                                                                              0,52                                                                             2,2  9,7                                                                              12,1                                                                              31,3                                        Commercial.sup.1                                                                     3,3 691 14,5                                                                              0,60                                                                             3,7 10,6                                                                              15,2                                                                              36,1                                        resin                                                                         Commercial.sup.1                                                                     3,0 747 19,1                                                                              0,64                                                                             3,3  8,8                                                                              13,7                                                                              30,7                                        resin                                                                         Commercial.sup.1                                                                     2,7 728 17,6                                                                              0,64                                                                             3,2  9,0                                                                              13,0                                                                              31,5                                        resin                                                                         Commercial.sup.1                                                                     2,4 696 15,6                                                                              0,56                                                                             3,4 10,1                                                                              13,9                                                                              34,2                                        resin                                                                         __________________________________________________________________________     *S = Swelling A = Absorption                                                  .sup.1 As commercial resin has been used a ureaformaldehyde resin with F:     = 1.19 (Casco UF 1145).                                                  

The boards were also tested for their contents and emission of freeformaldehyde.

    ______________________________________                                                        WKI.sup.(2) Perforator.sup.(3)                                       Press-   mg CH.sub.2 O/m.sup.2                                                                     mg CH.sub.2 O/100 g                                                                     Dry                                            time     board and   sample of board                                                                         content                                 Resin  min      24h         and 24h   %                                       ______________________________________                                        Ex 1   3,3      58          8,0       93,3                                    "      2,7      61          8,1       92,9                                    Ex 2   3,3      71          8,1       92,9                                    "      2,7      70          9,0       92,6                                    Commer-                                                                              3,3      91          16,0      92,7                                    cial.sup.(1)                                                                  resin                                                                         Commer-                                                                              2,7      88          16,0      92,4                                    cial.sup.(1)                                                                  resin                                                                         ______________________________________                                         .sup.(1) As commercial resin has been used a ureaformaldehyde resin with      F:U = 1.19 (Casco UF 1145).                                                   .sup.(2) WKI = Modified Roffaelmethod according to WKIbericht nr13, but       further modified by Casco Nobel                                               .sup.(3) Perforator value according to EN = 120                          

The limit for particle boards according to the E1 requirement calculatedwith the Perforator method, is 10 mg/100 g of particle board andcalculated with a method similar to the modified WKI=80 mg/m² of boardand twenty-four hours.

From the above table it is evident that all the boards with resinsaccording to the present invention meet these requirements which, on thecontrary, the reference resin does not. The strength of boards producedwith the present resins is, however, comparable with the one of thereference resin.

EXAMPLE 3.

Methylolisation step:

The methylolisation step is carried out in the same way as in example 1.

Condensation:

300 g of urea and 150 g of water are added to the reaction mixture(F/U=2.0). The pH of the reaction mixture is lowered to 4.8-5.0. Thetemperature is raised to about 80° C. and the condensation is allowed togo on to a viscosity of about 300-320 mPas (25° C.). The reaction isthen stopped with sodium hydroxide (pH=7.5-8.0) and 2148 g of additionalurea are added. The condensate is evaporated to 65%. After theevaporation the cross-linking agent methylol phenol (314 g) (F/P=2.0) isadded and the resin solution is finally cooled to room temperature.

Resin data:

    ______________________________________                                        Resin data:                                                                   ______________________________________                                        Viscosity 25° C., mPas                                                                        254                                                    pH                     9.3                                                    Gel time 100° C., 2% NH.sub.4 Cl atro resin                                                   53                                                     Density 25° C., kg/m.sup.3                                                                    1280                                                   Dry content, %         64.7                                                   Dilutability 25° C. water                                                                     1 + 2.9                                                ______________________________________                                    

The resin has then been used for manufacturing particle boards withconditions identical to those in example 2.

Results:

    __________________________________________________________________________           Press-                                                                            Den-       Swelling/water abs                                             time                                                                              sity                                                                              MOR IB 2 h     24 h                                            Resin  min kg/m.sup.3                                                                        MPa MPa                                                                              S %*                                                                              A %*                                                                              S %*                                                                              A %*                                        __________________________________________________________________________    Ex 3   3.3 663 19.9                                                                              0.50                                                                             4.0 13.6                                                                              16.9                                                                              42.5                                         "     3.0 675 20.0                                                                              0.45                                                                             4.8 13.1                                                                              18.7                                                                              43.1                                         "     2.7 660 19.5                                                                              0.34                                                                             4.5 13.4                                                                              17.8                                                                              43.2                                         "     2.4 630 18.6                                                                              0.38                                                                             4.2 13.4                                                                              15.7                                                                              42.9                                        Commercial.sup.(1)                                                                   3.3 637 16.0                                                                              0.48                                                                             4.1 12.9                                                                              15.4                                                                              41.0                                        resin                                                                         Commercial.sup.(1)                                                                   3.0 664 20.7                                                                              0.47                                                                             4.4 13.6                                                                              27.0                                                                              44.1                                        resin                                                                         Commercial.sup.(1)                                                                   2.7 631 16.1                                                                              0.42                                                                             4.2 11.9                                                                              15.9                                                                              38.7                                        resin                                                                         Commercial.sup.(1)                                                                   2.4 641 16.5                                                                              0.33                                                                             5.0 14.9                                                                              17.3                                                                              45.6                                        resin                                                                         __________________________________________________________________________     S = swelling                                                                  A = absorption                                                                .sup.(1) F/U 1.2                                                         

EXAMPLE 4.

Urea/phenol co-condensate is added after evaporation.

Phenol/urea co-condensate:

The separately prepared phenol/urea co-condensate can be added in asimilar way as in example 3, i.e. after evaporation. 120 g of 50%formalin, 94 g of phenol and 100 g of water are added to a flask. The pHis adjusted to 8.7-8.9 and the temperature is kept at 60° C. for 60minutes. 300 g of urea and 150 g of water are then added to the methylolphenol. The reaction mixture is allowed to react at 80° C. for 60minutes at pH 4.7-4.9.

Parallel to this the other resin component is prepared according to thefollowing:

Methylolisation step:

Is carried out in the same way and with the same amounts as in example1.

Condensation step:

To the reaction mixture from the methylolisation step 300 g of urea areadded, which have been redistributed from the last urea addition and thepH is lowered to 4.8-5.0. The reaction mixture is condensed according toexample 2 at 80° C. to 230-250 mPas 25° C. The reaction is stopped withsodium hydroxide to pH 7.5-8.0 and additional urea is added 2148-300 g.The resin is evaporated to such a dry content that at addition of theseparately prepared phenol/urea co-condensate (764 g), the dry contentwill be about 65% in the finished resin.

We claim:
 1. A process for the production of glued cellulose based products, such as particle boards, characterized in that the products are glued with an adhesive of which the resin component is a condensation product of formaldehyde, urea, phenol and optionally melamine with a molar ratio per mole formaldehyde of 1.4-0.8 moles of urea, 0.006-0.04 moles of phenol and 0-0.04 moles of melamine. 